A member of our team visited an intelligent coal mine project not long ago, and he kept sighing when he came back: It’s too hard to go underground, it’s really too hard.
He said that wearing heavy work clothes, he had just arrived at the mine tens of meters underground when he was hit by high temperature, humidity, and underground water. He was completely soaked and felt very uncomfortable.
In such an environment, underground workers often have to stay for several hours at a time, and mine management personnel must also go to the front line and go underground several times a week.
How can we know in real time whether the underground workers are safe and healthy? Wearable devices are undoubtedly the most preferred.
As far as we know, Shanxi Coal Mine has already used wearable devices to protect the health and safety of miners in the intelligent construction, obtain data through personal wear, monitor individual biological signs in real time, conduct analysis and early warning, and improve the operating safety of underground employees. On the well, screen and prevent vulnerable groups to reduce operational and health risks.
It is worth mentioning that smart wear + miner safety is not a illusory plan, nor is it a simple attempt, but has been included in the scoring indicators of intelligent production and operation management by Shanxi Coal Mine, and has become a rule-based and evidence-based enterprise. Long-term protection you can count on.
The wind started at the end of Qingping, and under the trend of industrial intelligence, the introduction of smart wearable devices into employee health management is creating new waves in the wearable market.
Compared with the complex and diverse ToC personal health market, the more vertical and specialized ToB commercial health market, smart wearable devices, may be the first to become popular.
twelve years cycle
Wearable devices start again
The hardware industry has a 12-year cycle. From PCs, smartphones to AIoT, it takes about 12 years to conceive, mature, explode, and iterate. This hardware life cycle law is also reflected in wearable devices.
In 2012, Google Glass was unveiled. Under the circumstances that the innovation space of smart phones gradually narrowed and the market growth was close to saturation, as the next hot spot in the smart terminal industry, it aroused the market's pursuit. In that year, it was also called "smart wearable glasses". The first year of equipment". Since then, start-up companies and major manufacturers have invested in research and development, and capital hot money has surged. Consumers have seen various wearable devices such as sports bracelets, watches, jewelry pendants, and body patches.
With the situation of a hundred flowers blooming, after a few years of barbaric growth, the hardware form of smart wearable devices has solidified into watches and bracelets. At the same time, due to various factors such as similar functions, low value points, product homogeneity, and price wars, a large number of crowdfunding products and entrepreneurial projects have failed, declared bankruptcy or been acquired, and only Apple, Huawei, Google, Samsung, Xiaomi, etc. A few manufacturers with core advantages remained on the table.
In short, looking back at this history is to ask a whole new question: After nearly a dozen years, have smart wearables reached an inflection point?
We believe that the products of smart wearable devices are maturing, the market tends to explode, and the ToB market may be the first to become hot.
What happened in these years? Why does ToB start earlier than ToC?
The main reason why the last round of smart wearables went cold is that the product value is not obvious.
In order for wearables to really start, they still need to cut in through high-frequency just-needed scenarios, so that people can truly feel the value of the product. The last round of smart watches and bracelets often existed as extensions of mobile phones, and did not form a clear functional division, such as counting steps, answering calls, replying messages, NFC payment, etc. Some functions overlapped with mobile phones Even compete. In the health scene, the software and hardware such as sensors and algorithms were still in the early stage. When detecting body temperature, heart rate, sleep, exercise posture and other signs, there were still certain errors, and the accuracy was not as good as that of professional sports watches and sports bracelets. The data records are accurate, but due to the early development of digital health research and insufficient software services, it is impossible to give effective health advice. Even if users know sleep data, walking steps and other data, it seems that it is useless except to post to Moments.
Therefore, mass consumers in the ToC market at that time were easily left with the impression of "chicken ribs".
Over the past few years, the situation today has changed.
The first is to clarify the value of the product.
In today's wearable market, especially smart bracelets and watches, the functions of hardware products have been relatively clear. Head manufacturers represented by Apple iWatch, Huawei Watch, Google Pixel Watch or Fitbit, etc., will make smart wearable products Focusing on the health field, it focuses on strengthening the functions of step counting, sleep, and physical sign monitoring, forming a clear distinction from smart phones, smart earphones and other devices.
Second, the maturity of the digital health industry.
In terms of hardware, around smart wearable devices, there have been more miniaturized sensors and high-precision components customized for health functions, which can continuously detect health signs in a very limited space.
In terms of software, the new generation of AI technology and algorithm models are constantly evolving, and the analysis is carried out in a more comprehensive dimension, extending from the initial three or four dimensions to seven or eight dimensions, making the monitoring results more accurate and providing active and healthy decision-making. For example, the Apple iWatch can identify the trembling frequency of the hands of Parkinson's patients. Huawei Watch explores whether heart rate monitoring can provide early warning for heart disease such as atrial fibrillation. Honor TWS earphones introduce a "core body temperature fitting" algorithm to accurately calculate body temperature. Breakthroughs in the algorithm layer have given value to the combination of digital technology and health management.
In terms of services, smart wearable devices have begun to be integrated into the social sports system. For example, Jiaxing City has explored a new model of "assessment and training". Through community sports venues, the data collected by equipment is applied to residents' sports guidance to improve the physical fitness of the whole people. Quality.
All in all, smart wearable products and industries have entered the next cycle of high availability from the hazy exploration period.
Everyone has health needs, and everyone cares about them, which is the strongest driving force for consumers to buy. That being the case, compared to the To C market with a huge audience, why is it said that the smart wearable market will start again, but the To B market will be the first to start? There are three reasons.
Cause one
Focusing on the scene is more valuable than ubiquitous
Compared with mobile phones or professional medical testing instruments, the value of smart wearable devices lies in their portability and mobility. Therefore, it is impossible to require users to only use it in a single environment, and the technical challenges brought about by diverse life scenes, rapidly changing environmental factors, and wide-ranging differences among people are enormous.
A teacher from Beijing Sport University told us that wearable devices collect physical parameters through sensors, such as myoelectricity, light reflectivity, etc., and human health is a complex comprehensive system, and the physiological effects corresponding to these parameters are Which ones need to be explored continuously.
Smart wearable devices, in essence, control and intervene in health risk factors, and their value is determined by individual risks, intervention intensity, and expected benefits.
For example, a low-risk healthy person will feel that using a smart watch to detect blood sugar is excessive intervention and creates unnecessary anxiety for himself. And high-risk diabetic users will feel that the intervention of smart watches is insufficient, not as accurate as professional blood glucose detectors, and cannot achieve the expected results. The value of smart wearable devices for health management varies from person to person.
Therefore, to improve the intervention value of wearable devices, it is necessary to converge scenarios, crowds, and demands.
Compared with the diverse and complex ToC usage scenarios, ToB commercial health scenarios are more focused, with a high degree of controllability in the working environment, and regular actions to follow. Therefore, the needs and data of ToB health management are relatively clear, so the intervention effect of smart wearable devices will be better.
Take sanitation workers as an example. With the arrival of hot weather, outdoor work is prone to heat stroke, and the probability of severe heat stroke is greatly increased, which will bring life danger. In the past, it was mainly managed manually, and sanitation inspectors patrolled and inspected, which was inefficient and difficult to detect health risks of sanitation workers in time. To prevent occupational safety risks in such vertical scenarios, smart wearable devices can collect data in a targeted manner.
For example, in a certain place in Hangzhou, smart bracelets are distributed to front-line sanitation workers. There are more elderly sanitation workers in this area, and these bracelets are "tailor-made" for them. Real-time monitoring of the wearer's physiological indicators. If someone's abnormal heart rate continues to exceed the warning standard, an alarm will be automatically sent to the background. If the signal is lost, or if it stays in a certain place for more than a certain period of time, there may be a safety risk, and the monitoring platform will also accept it. to the alarm signal. If the sanitation workers feel unwell during the operation, they can also use the one-key call function to call the team leader.
Similar shoulder and neck fatigue of desk workers; emotional stress or cardiovascular abnormalities of high-intensity workers such as Internet technicians; occupational risks such as pneumoconiosis, high temperature, and underground loss of mine operators; outdoor workers need to pay attention to the heart and brain Vascular problems etc...
Once a problem that is extremely harmful to health occurs, in fact, only a low intervention intensity is required. For example, through a portable smart wearable device, it can identify abnormal indicators of a single feature, prompt long-term disease risks, and prevent the occurrence of risk factors. It can be prevented in advance. And to avoid risks, why not do it?
In general, some critical positions and occupational workers have high individual health risks, strong willingness to accept interventions, strong tolerance for new technologies, low cost of wearable interventions, and large health returns.
Therefore, focusing on ToB special scenarios and focusing on targeted algorithms can release the product value of smart wearable devices more clearly and powerfully.
Reason Two
Health intervention, ToB is more powerful than ToC
There is a popular saying recently, young people only know "dopamine", and middle-aged people only know "endorphins". It means that when you are young and healthy, you like the instant happiness brought by dopamine such as junk food and sugary drinks. When you become sub-healthy in middle age, you don’t understand how good the endorphins brought by exercise are.
It is not difficult to see that if smart wearable devices want to achieve better results in health interventions, they actually have to fight against the user's "lazy instinct".
Therefore, to improve the intervention effect of smart wearable products, ToB scenarios can play a stronger role than ToC.
One is data. ToB is more receptive to collecting health data.
Smart wearable devices need to measure and perceive physiological sign data, and there are certain security risks in data collection, storage, use, management and other links. In ToC scenarios, such as home health services, many people will worry that health devices are too radical and lead to privacy leaks, and they will somewhat resist new products.
However, in the ToB scenario, smart wearable devices are often used as the terminal of the smart management system, and personal health data will be hosted on the IT infrastructure of the enterprise or industry. concerns, and a higher degree of compliance with health management.
The second is service. Continuous monitoring of ToB is more reliable.
Understanding long-term health trends requires continuous monitoring. As for smart wearable manufacturers, except for a few manufacturers such as Apple, Huawei, and Google, they have invested in digital health for more than ten years, and have deep-rooted medical research and development, infrastructure, platform framework and other layouts, so their products and services are relatively stable. , Other smart wearable products launched after a large number of start-up companies closed down or exited, or the strategy of hardware companies changed, were no longer updated and could not be upgraded and iterated.
Focusing on commercial health equipment in the ToB scenario, as part of the digital and intelligent management system, it needs to continue to play a role in health management in daily operations. Therefore, there are also professional developers to carry out customized development and maintenance. In terms of monitoring, etc., it is more secure.
Therefore, with stronger willingness to intervene and better intervention effect, smart wearable products are more convincing in the ToB market.
Reason Three
Business success, ToB is the hope of landing
In the medical and health field, Amazon, Apple, Google, and domestic BATH and other technology giants are all entering the direction. But technology research and development is one thing, and whether it can be transformed into commercial success is another.
The vitality of smart wearable products lies in the combination of technology and commercial implementation.
At this point in time, it is difficult to persuade the ToC market, and consumers tend to be rational and cautious in their purchase decisions. In addition to vertical groups such as mountaineering, diving, extreme sports, and the elderly, the audience of smart wearable devices must be extended outward. ToB commercial scenarios Health management is where the hope lies.
From the perspective of employees, they pay more and more attention to their own health.
According to a survey, compared with benefits such as holiday gifts, shopping cards, travel, and dinner parties, health care is the No. 1 choice for employees, including physical examinations, medical services, and employee psychological care plans. Among them, smart wearable products, as the first line of defense for early prevention and early intervention, will become more and more indispensable in the humanistic care of enterprises.
From the perspective of an enterprise, only the health of employees can ensure the sustainable development of the enterprise.
On the one hand, it is sustainable production. In the book "The Age of Overwork", Japanese economist Koji Morioka, referring to Japanese society, mentioned the common problem of overwork in society, which has affected the physical and mental health of workers. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of middle-aged workers who suffered from subarachnoid hemorrhage, myocardial infarction and other diseases due to overwork and sudden death exceeded the number of deaths due to traffic accidents in the same year. Even if they do not die from overwork, a large number of young and middle-aged workers in Japan are living a sub-healthy lifestyle. The attrition and excessive consumption of talents is an intangible loss to the enterprise.
On the other hand, paying attention to occupational health has become a necessary obligation of employers. The "Comprehensive Risk Assessment Report on Occupational Hazards of Employers" issued by the State Administration of Disease Control and Prevention and the National Health and Medical Commission clearly stipulates that Class C employers shall be strictly supervised, the proportion of spot checks shall be increased in a targeted manner, and on-site inspections shall be implemented. Class and Class B employers will also carry out spot checks to reduce the risk of occupational disease hazards.
From the country to the individual, the attention to occupational health is increasing. Smart wearable devices can better meet the expectations of health management in commercial scenarios, thereby stimulating purchase intentions.
For example, in the ToC scene, it is actually a certain challenge to accurately capture personal emotions and solve mental illness through daily escort conversations, and the current research results have not yet been clearly supported. However, in commercial scenarios, many negative emotions are often occasional and directly related to the environment, and some timely interventions can be taken to help adjust them.
For example, the smart watch detects the depression of the employees, and the mood is relatively low. It can be equipped with some stimulating drinks with a slightly stronger taste, which can significantly improve the emotional awakening.
With the continuous improvement of the accuracy and effectiveness of digital health technology, the economic and social value of smart wearable devices in commercial health scenarios will become more and more obvious.
Having said that, we can summarize the current smart wearable market: the technical value is clearer, the commercial effect is guaranteed, and the industry has great potential for landing.
It is worth mentioning that ToB commercial health is often closely integrated with industrial intelligence, with a large number and large demand. Therefore, industries and enterprises will also tend to be conservative and cautious when selecting models, and more are based on strength and reliable technology. , Safe and reliable giant cooperation, as an integral part of the "terminal" in the intelligent cloud edge solution, to "package" for purchase.
Therefore, this is also a market for "making a fortune in silence", and the value brought by it may not be perceived by the public soon, but as a "black technology" in deserts, mines, deep seas, and outdoor operations. Silently guarding each laborer.
A new cycle of smart wearable devices is quietly starting. Smartphones are quite old, and the metaverse is nowhere in sight. The next blue ocean of hardware consumption is the turn of smart wearables.
